Snippets reflecting life and thoughts of a writer who has published a fourth novel set in an English village. First, Gypsies Stop tHere, then No Gypsies Served, followed by Shades of Appley Green. Now it's back to the Sixties with Secrets in Appley Green.

Saturday, 12 October 2013

BBC Surrey Breakfast Show, Saturday 12 October Thanks to local councillor @PaulDeach who listened to my interview live and reacted immediately, this interview is put into context as a more permanent podcast on the Surrey Heath Residents' Blog.And on iTunes

Speaking live on an early morning radio programme can be
deceptively challenging. Firstly, you have to be awake! Then, for example, before
sun-up and in the rain, negotiating the Pirbright bends, where the road is
strewn with branches and massive surprise puddles, you strive to get to the
Guildford BBC studios in time for your precise slot.

Also there is the sensitive nature of the topic. Travellers.
Gypsies. Planning applications and prejudice. Yes, enough to wake anyone up
when presented with a list of alleged crimes and anti-social behaviour that are,
apparently, solely attributable to Gypsies and Travellers.

Thankfully such sweeping allegations against the travelling
community are becoming fewer in the wider population. I think so, anyway, but
there are always a few who refuse to see them as human beings, in most ways
just the same as anyone else. The key difference is that some GandTs wish to retain
aspects of their culture, with regard to moving around for work and social
gatherings, and pursuing traditional ways of earning a living: tree surgery,
garden maintenance, fencing etc; laying tarmac (less so now); scrap metal. This
type of work would not fit easily on your average residential estate or road,
and it is entirely right that they should be accorded somewhere for them to
fulfil their role and pitch a trailer. This is really all they ask for;
somewhere within reasonable reach of schools, shops, doctors and so on.

These people are descendants of those Romany Gypsies who
years ago co-existed quite comfortably within the context of rural England,
making things like pegs and baskets, virtually out of fresh-air and the hedgerow, or offering a useful service
such as knife-grinding. Travelling and stopping has become nearly impossible, with so many laws
that make this and doorstep selling difficult; now, even remaining static in
their family groups is almost as impossible!

Local authorities are trying to do their bit, I feel, but as
ever, once they do their assessments, find a suitable plot of land, which is not
easy to say the least, the big hitch in the process is the general public’s
resentment. Whilst acknowledging the need for site provision, there
is still a strong element of NIMBYISM.

How about we all try and turn things around? Instead of
dwelling on possible negatives, perhaps, for the sake of their children and grandchildren especially, we should do our bit to accentuate the
positive.

‘Hey! I hear some Romany Gypsy or Irish Traveller families are
settling in near us! I would so like to know more about them and their fascinating
culture first-hand. What you see on TV and read in the papers is probably not a
fair representation. I shall make a real effort to make them welcome and help
them fit in with our community. I’m dying to find out about what the older
members can remember of times gone by!’

You can compose your own version of course.Do some follow-up comments come along from the listening public? (I am still listening to the programme, so watch this space...!)POST SCRIPT: No, apparently there was little negative response this time, for whatever reason.

Tuesday, 8 October 2013

Neglect of our elderly living at home has really hit the
headlines in the media. You must have heard or read something about the 15
minute agency visits, inadequate for most aspects of caring for a human being.

When you are not old yourself it is a side of life that
can easily be ignored, forgotten or pushed to the bottom of the list of
priorities in the huge arena of social issues. The slow murder of young
children shocks us more, and we can but hope that such tragic, heart-rending
incidents are few. With the ageing population, however, this lack of proper
regard for the elderly may be on a massive scale.

I remember when working in a Social Services department
in the early 1970s, the big move was to get away from ‘putting old folk into
Homes’ and make sure they stayed in their own homes. ‘Domiciliary care’ was the
term bandied about as offering a rosy future for the new generation of elderly people.For so many it has all gone wrong. Residential/nursing care is very expensive,
this we know. The overheads are huge. I don’t know the relative costs of caring
for an elderly person in their own home, but it would seem that such domiciliary
services have been pared down to the bone.

This is an aspect of social change that is fundamental to
the story in Shades of Appley Green.

I thought it timely to provide an extract, so you can see
what I mean. There is a love story and a lighter side of community and family life going on in the book,
but the cornerstone of the story is the mission given to young mother, Steph, by deceased
landowner, Ted Devonish, who is already known to readers of my first two books.

This
is early on, where she has a meeting with some healthcare professionals in the local
hospital.

“So, tell us a bit more about your charity, could you
Steph?” asked Nora, the Parkinson’s specialist nurse. “How long has it been
going and what sort of things do you do?”

Steph
was always pleased to have the chance to promote SSS and hoped that word of
mouth would work its magic – and perhaps a mention on the hospital website.

“There was a local benefactor called Edward
Devonish. …”

… Steph blinked and collected her thoughts. e pulled her to one side“Anyway,
divorced and living alone, he died suddenly two years ago. Tragic. Great
sadness in the village.” And
great sorrow for me, she wanted to add, but thought it best to keep aloof from
the grief she had felt at his loss. “Sometimes it seems it’s always the best
people who go before their time, doesn’t it?”

Nora and Heather nodded politely but Steph could see she had
overstepped the mark. Be professional, she told herself sharply.

She continued, “His only child, daughter Natalie, had always
made it clear she had no wish to be involved in farming, even at arms’ length.
His total estate, once sold off realised a tidy few million. Now, he bequeathed
a portion of this to a charity and for that he set out some rules. It should be
used to set an example of a charity giving special support to senior citizens
who need it. For example,” and she handed over a small brochure that set out
the SSS mission, “more than personal care, medical attention, financial
guidance. Not just housework either, necessary though that is, but on top of
that, for those elderly whose families were too distant or too busy, they
should be given time and attention.”Steph stressed the key words, just as Ted
used to. She would never let that man down.

Nora
nodded, as she scanned the leaflet. “Certainly what people with Parkinson’s
need. Everything slows down and not everyone appreciates that.”

A mental
picture of Jackson filled the screen inside her head. “Ted knew that so many
isolated old people need someone who can listen and respond; treat them with
respect as an individual; without being in a rush, think what that particular
person really needs based on the lives they have led.”

“Aren’t
there charities and agencies who already do this? They have volunteers and even
paid support workers who visit, don’t they? Befriending services?” asked
Heather, looking at her watch not quite discreetly enough.

“There
are, and they do an excellent job, but there aren’t always enough to go round.
Carers are inevitably pressed for time by agency schedules. Time costs money.
Often there’s little continuity so carer and client really don’t bond – don’t
have time to bond. Nobody’s fault, just a fact of life. And volunteers
come and go. Few people can afford to give of their time for nothing these
days, however much they’d like to. Edward Devonish saw it as important that
consistent, visiting friends should be rewarded and … well, have training to be
professional so they could also offer information and support.He said it must be self-funding after five
years and set an example so other branches will set up in other areas – without
his initial financial backing obviously.”

“So
a lot hangs on the success of this pilot then?”

Yes,
she thought, all eyes are on me in the village. “Exactly. It’s my job to ensure
that Special Support for Seniors has a future.”Her commitment had extended to giving up a
well-paid job but they did not need to know that either. There was so much more
to it than that.

Nora raised her eyebrows and threw her a sympathetic smile.
“To set an example? Wow, no pressure then! What a challenge Steph! To be
self-sufficient sounds demanding, to say the least.” Steph really liked Nora;
she was excellent at her job and people respected her for both her expertise
and kindness.

“Yep.
But Ted Devonish had the foresight to see that if the charity could draw on his
bequest indefinitely its staff would just see it as another paid job and be
less motivated.”

“So
– you have to fundraise as well? I mean, as well as actually helping local
clients in quite a direct way.”

Steph
nodded. “We need to recruit a dedicated publicist and fundraiser – obviously
who can raise much more than they are paid. It’s early days for that, though.
First, we need to get the whole thing working."

“Who
else works for SSS?”

“I
report to a manager – whose role it is to secure other funding like lottery
money, trusts and legacies, that sort of thing. And …” she added, reluctantly,
trying not to baulk at the words, “… manage me.” The notion of being managed
was too close to being bullied in Steph’s eyes. Her mind flicked back
subliminally to when she began keeping written records on how she was once
‘managed’ … at a time when she was so desperate for work she dared not open her
mouth to anyone about what her manager was doing … Would she want Faith to read
about that in the diary?

“What
have you achieved so far then, Steph?”

Shades
of Appley Green,is available as a paperback
or on Kindle from Amazon, (or from Waterstones bookshops) First published in
February 2012.

Thursday, 26 September 2013

It is bit of a mouthful, isn't it? But it does say exactly what it is. If you are interested in Gypsy issues but, like me, decided
that the meeting in Londonwould be an expensive trip unless you are funded by
an organisation, then another October meeting may be for you. For some years
now I have attended the Surrey Gypsy Traveller Communities Forum when I can, as an
observer.

These meetings provide an excellent opportunity to gain an
up to date understanding first-hand of what is going on, not just on the big, overwhelming
issue of site provision.As described on
a flyer, the forum is ‘a public meeting for individuals, agencies, charities
and voluntary groups to meet informally with members of the Surrey Gypsy
Traveller Community.’ I have heard heart-breaking accounts from mothers of
hardships endured by the Gypsy and Travellers communities, and frustrations of
fathers who battle with the authorities to find a place for their family to
live; as well as how the various agencies deal with difficult situations.

This meeting is covering the new regulations brought in
under the Scrap Metal Act 2013. No doubt there will be divided opinions on
this. Scandalous and scurrilous dealings in the industry must be curbed, but you
can imagine how someone whose literacy skills are weak would feel when
confronted with the bureaucracy here:Scrap Metal Act 2013

Other perennial issues will also be debated – education,
health, planning etc.

This meeting is free, open to members of the public, held at
10.00 am on Tuesday, 22October 2013 at the
Runnymede Civic Centre, Station Road, Addlestone, Surrey KT15 2AH (parking at
Garfield Road car park).

By the way, as you’re here you may like to see a couple of
lovely reviews that came about recently. A lady found me on Twitter and my
books on Amazon, or perhaps the other way round. Thank you JennCarol aka @JennyGaluschka on
Twitter

Wednesday, 14 August 2013

As you may know, my
first two novels, Gypsies Stop tHere and No Gypsies Served have story lines relating to the shortage of Gypsy sites and relationships between.the travelling community and mainstream society.In my early research I became very intrigued by
the causes of this and why it has become such a social issue everywhere. I came to realise in my investigations that the
on-going, sorry situation was bound up in a tangled web of history, culture, tradition,
justice, planning laws and widespread beliefs in society that sometimes can
only be described as prejudice. As with any section of society, people tend to
remember unhappy incidents where there is some kind of conflict or tension, and
then apply their conclusions to a whole group of people. Such negativity is
often at the core of racism.

A key problem is
availability of land and I fully appreciate that, but the amount of land required
to provide sites where Travellers and Gypsies can live in a trailer instead of
a house, is on a remarkably small scale. As far as I can see, it could be incorporated
into planned housing developments; the only difference being that a
hard-standing pitch is needed instead of foundations for a house. Put like
this, unless you are a property developer, does it not seem a fairly simple and
modest request?

Traditionally, the
travelling community live in family groups and do not care to do their
ablutions or laundry in the trailer so some kind of utility ‘shed’ is preferred for
washing and toilet, as you might find on any regulated holiday campsite. None
of these requirements is beyond the wit of man, or the planning authorities.
Also, where a Gypsy or Traveller has purchased land to set up home, then
certain criteria could surely be devised that could accommodate this without
contravening planning laws. If it is land that is an Area of Outstanding Beauty;
strictly agricultural or green belt, then no. If it is a piece of land that
might be used for building bricks and mortar, or a reclaimed brownfield site, then
possibly. This is oversimplifying, but surely government and planning experts could
come up with a compromise formula if they were willing.

The stumbling block for
councils to provide as they should is often down to the general public raising
objections. These protests can arise as a result of ugly perceptions that have
grown due to the mess associated with unauthorised sites. You see where I am
going? By the way, it is always worth re-stating that authorised Gypsy sites
are, almost always, kept immaculately.

If you want to know
more, here are some links you may find useful. Actually, I am underselling them - they make fascinating reading! Just make yourself comfortable for a few minutes.

Local Government
Secretary Eric Pickles; Chairman of the Gypsy Council Joseph Jones; Chief
Executive of the Irish Travellers Movement Yvonne MacNamara; Prime Minister David Cameron; some widely opposing
views reported here.The Westminster briefing
will be a fascinating debate to follow.

Surrey Heath Residents BlogSee the heated conversation that struck
up here in November 2010 inresponse to
my piece on a local issue. This situation was not typical but a very specific circumstance
relating to Showmen; however the discussion that ensued was more typical.

If you are new to all this and would like a more relaxing way to gain some understanding of the various sides of this important debate, then you could start by reading my novels, an 'easy way in' as one reviewer said.

Tuesday, 23 July 2013

Today I am delighted to welcome Emma Calin who describes herself as a womaneternallypedaling between Peckham and Pigalle, in search of passion and enduring romance!

Born in London in 1962, she now lives part of the year in the UK and spends the rest in France. She has been writing since childhood and has won numerous local, national and international prizes for poetry and short stories.

Emma enjoys writing love stories firmly rooted in social realism (as do I!). She blogs about the contrasts in life on both sides of the English Channel, which she likes to explore on her tandem whenever weather and fitness coincide. Like me, she is a Lifestyle Contributor on Loveahappyending Lifestyle.

She explains:

'I have never been able to write about
anything completely imaginary. I admire writers who can create worlds, magic or
supernatural beings. I think I would have been very much at home with the books
of the 1950s/60's such as “Room At The Top” by John Braine and “Saturday Night
And Sunday Morning” by Alan Sillitoe.These were “angry young men” writers. Both pop legend Morrissey andgroup the“Arctic Monkeys” acknowledge the influence of Sillitoe. Another
influence was “Last Exit To Brooklyn” by Hubert Selby jnr. All of these books
are social realist accounts of life either at the margins of society or among
the proud working class. Social and class structures have changed since then.
In the UK, there is no longer a stable blue collar class. Globalisation has
swept away the certainties of that period. However, this was my childhood.

In writing the five units ofmy newly launched Love in A Hopeless Place Collection I
have tried to catch the spirit of people who work manually in low paid jobs. I
have followed a completely haphazard career path among such situations in order
to write about them. The colour and resilience of these characters has always
overawed me. My stories are a very humble tribute to some genuine true life
heroes. The title does indeed come from the Rihanna track because it plays on a
car radio in one of the novelettes in the collection. It also reflects the
sentiment of the series. I have commented before that the only hopeless place
for love is in a cold heart. There are few of those in this collection.

Each of the five titles in the collection
is available as a stand-alone e-book for Kindle, iPad, Android, Mac, PC
etc.on Amazon Worldwide:

Or you can save money and buy the complete
'boxed set' Love in a Hopeless Place Collection

I would like to thank Miriam for having me on her blog as part of my 'Blowing My Own Trombone Book Launch Blog Tour'.If you would like to find out more about the books in my collection, see some excerpts and even hear me play the trombone.... (yes really!)'

Emma, it is very exciting to have you visit and always fascinating to know more about what inspires writers who are so different from each other. If you take a stroll through Miriam's Ramblings you will see what I mean. What leads authors to their chosen genre and style?

Thanks Emma!

Emma tells me that during July and August, ANGELA,the short story from the
collection is FREE – so you can even try one before you buy! Emma will also be
having a Summer Sale – ALL books in her portfolio for 99c/76p/89€ until the 1st August. Such a bargain!

If you'd like to know more about Emma and her books, she will be guesting at the following blogs during
July:

Wednesday, 3 July 2013

Yes, sunny and warm!Our daughter was married on Saturday, possibly the sunniest weekend of
the year so far!! Wedding days are known for being special, and I am biased because it was a family event, but this was truly magical and dreamlike, a Midsummer Night’s Dream.

My guess is that most guests were feeling sun-deprived, so
for that rarely seen ball of yellow light in the sky to shine, was the top
layer on an already generously-iced cake. We British can be forgiven for
mentioning the weather a few times and it was so surreal I felt I must share it
with you.

The venue, a Queen-Anne style country house in the Surrey
Hills called Barnett Hill, provided the perfect setting for what we wanted. It
was winter when we (when I say ‘we’ this means our daughter, her now-husband, my husband and me) first visited the hotel, the gardens looking bare.

Tension slowly
built up to the tune of violins and cello as we waited for the bridal party to enter; broken by the appearance of the chief bridesmaid
(daughter) with 19 month-old flower girl (granddaughter) who stole everyone’s
hearts; and eventually the arrival of the beautiful bride on the arm of her
father who was in tears; the vows, the oohs, the aahs, the sighs and small
chuckles …

The string quartet then continued outside on the terrace as we enjoyed canapés and bubbly and the photographer unobtrusively took hundreds of pics.Now, out in the open air, the relief and release was
palpable. In the loveliest summery surroundings you could wish for, we could
breathe again and relax – it was happening, this was real, this was wonderful.
The sun was bright and everyone was exceedingly happy, glasses clinking, eyes
twinkling.

The speeches were funny and tender; there were good jokes
and some so bad they were great, and many heartfelt expressions of love, thanks
and gifts.

We overran but in a good way – we were all having such a
good time, so the evening people happily mixed and mingled without us until we all came together.

With the flower-girl long since safely tucked up in her cot, and the cake
‘cut’, the bride and groom had their first dance and some serious partying
began – dancing to a six piece band. But the layout of the hotel was such that
various other rooms were available, to say nothing of the garden, for chatting,
ambling and, making it all very personal, leafing through some amazing photo
albums of the bride and groom.

Sunday allowed us an al fresco breakfast we had not even
thought would be possible. By half-past nine we wondered if we could take the heat!

How lucky were we?Had I read this in a romantic novel I would have decried it as totally
unrealistic!

Wednesday, 5 June 2013

It's time for another lovely author to visit Miriam's Ramblings! In fact this is long overdue, but with holidays and life in general, blogging has been swept aside in recent weeks.Welcome Bonnie, from across the pond - I am really delighted to have you here in Appley Green land!

Bonnie Trachtenberg is the multi-award-winning, bestselling author of Wedlocked: A Novel and Neurotically Yours: A Novel. She writes a monthly relationship and advice column for LoveaHappyEnding.com. Bonnie wassenior writer and copy chief at Book-of-the-Month Club and has written seven children’s book adaptations. She has also written for three newspapers and penned countless magazine articles. She lives in New York with her husband, four cats, and a dog.

Bonnie explains her journey to writing her award-winning novels.

'I’ve always been a sucker
for a good romantic comedy, whether through the books of Jennifer Weiner, Janet
Evanovich, Marian Keyes and others, or at the movies watching “When Harry Met
Sally,” “Something’s Got to Give,” or “Pretty Woman”. Let’s face it, real life
can be sad, frustrating, and maddening at times, so I never seek out depressing
or gut-wrenching stories no matter how good they are. I’m sure I’ve missed out
on some great books and movies, but somehow I know I’m better off. Smiling is a
priority for me. If I want misery I’ll turn on the news!

When I decided to pen my
first novel, I realized I’d be spending many long days and nights holed up in
the “alternate universe” I was creating. I also knew that if I was going to
find my stay there a pleasurable experience, it had better be a romantic
comedy! Luckily, since I was writing a story based on my first brief,
disastrous marriage (Wedlocked), I
had the perfect material. I never even gave the genre selection a second
thought. Romantic comedy wasn’t just the right decision; in actuality, it
really wasn’t a decision at all. It was completely organic. And as I developed
my characters and wrote witty dialogue, I found myself giggling, swooning, and truly
enjoying myself. Nothing is more entertaining to me than a good romance with
lots of laughs, so for me, romantic comedy was a natural fit!'

We certainly do all need cheering up after following the news these days; although I don't write 'rom-coms' myself, I agree with Bonnie. Even in a reality novel, humour is vital to give the reader a lift and maybe provide an escape to a better place.

Saturday, 4 May 2013

Parkinson's UK thanked me for helping to spread awareness, which was really nice of them. Their marketing department also shared some astonishing statistics with me.

During the week, this is what happened on their website and so on. They had:

·48,276
visits to their website

·21,000
people engaged with them on Facebook

·2,000
new likes on Facebook

·More
than 100 people shared pictures of their shoes on social
media

·Over
5,000 video views on Youtube

·226
events nationwide

Well done and many congratulations on this massive success!

My book, Shades of Appley Green is not just about Parkinson's, by the way, but I do hope it helps people to see what it can be like to be elderly with Parkinson's. As someone pointed out in the comments left on my post some younger people sadly contend with the condition, too; then called 'young onset' Parkinson's, but my character, Jackson Jeffrys, celebrates his 90th birthday in the story. He lives an apparently affluent and comfortable lifestyle, but various health and personal circumstances have conspired against him. Loneliness is his greatest problem - and, hey! something can be done about that!

Awareness and understanding go a long way towards encouraging those with Parkinson's to perhaps go for a walk, have a pub lunch, enjoy shopping or even join a choir. Being deprived of such simple pleasures can lead to depression and, with some people, can be worse than the physical symptoms.

Next time you see someone who may have Parkinson's, please, please, remember this. I know you will. Of course you will.

Friday, 19 April 2013

World Book Night is real, however,
and coming very close to Appley Green! Just to remind you, this is an
initiative that involves authors, publishers, agents, booksellers, librarians
and above all readers! It is on Tuesday
23 April - wow! four days away, as I write this.

On their website they say,‘World
Book Night is a celebration of reading and books which sees tens of thousands
of passionate volunteers gift specially chosen and printed WBN books in their
communities to share their love of reading.’I am one such volunteer, full of passion, needless to say; so on Tuesday I shall be giving away 20 brand
new special editions of my first choice from the list of books offered by World Book Night.
It was difficult to choose from a wonderful selection, but I was delighted to
be allocated my top choice, a novel called The
Road Home by Rose Tremain.

Of course, this book is just ‘up my
street’ and please forgive the pun if you can find it in your heart; about an
Eastern European immigrant’s struggle to make his way (yes it’s a ‘journey’) in
London. It offers a new perspective of ourselves and I love this book. I really hope
I transmit my enthusiasm to others and do it justice.

A snippet from the WBN website,
declaring that reading can go beyond pleasure:

‘Reading
changes lives, improves employability, social interaction, enfranchisement and
can have an effect on mental health and happiness.’

I could not put it better myself, nor
agree more!

Next week I will tell you about where
I am going – or rather where I went!
With pictures! I wonder who I will meet? Aren't you excited? Of course you are!

Book givers are charged with the mission to approach people who perhaps
do not read books regularly. I say ‘perhaps’ for how can you possibly tell
before speaking to someone! (unless you catch them at it - reading, that is.) What does a non-reading person look like?
What would be their identifying features? Tell me!

It's 'horses for courses' as they say and some could not live without Grand Prix races or playing Bridge; but I genuinely cannot imagine living
without books. They are, and always have been, such an important part of my life;
now in retirement, even more so. I do what used to be called ‘Books on Wheels’ rebranded
as ‘Library Direct Home Service’ that I consistently fail to remember; the
words just keep re-arranging themselves in a different order, but I guess I
need to stare at the title a little longer to fix it. I belong to a book club. I have kept a list of books read over the past ten years or so, with a
brief comment about each one. I recommend this to booklovers! As the years roll
by it is quite enlightening to look back and see what you have read and whether
you enjoyed it and, if so, why. Now, I sometimes pop a little review up on Goodreads,
go to Book Festivals, and, of course, try to find time to write books too,
the greatest joy of all.

World Book Night, The Company

‘Each year we recruit 20,000 volunteers to hand out 20 copies of their
favourite book from our list to members of their community who don’t regularly
read. By enlisting thousands of passionate book lovers around the country World
Book Night reaches out to the millions of people in the UK who have yet to fall
in love with reading in the hope that we can start them on their reading
journey. In addition World Book Night distributes half a million books directly
to the hardest to reach potential readers in prisons, care homes, hospitals,
sheltered, supported and social housing, the homeless and through partner
charities working throughout the UK. World Book Night is about giving books and
encouraging reading in those who don’t regularly do so. But it is also about
more than that: it’s about people, communities and connections, about reaching
out to others and touching lives in the simplest of ways, through the sharing
of stories.’http://www.worldbooknight.org/

Let me know of any good World Book Night (WBN) events down your way!

Added after the event - here in Deepcut Village Hall
See how they clutch their books!!

Sunday, 14 April 2013

This week,
beginning 15 April, is Parkinson's Awareness Week focusing on
changing attitudes, using the strapline 'Put yourself in my shoes'. The idea
behind the campaign came from a person with Parkinson's who told them how much
he wished that people could put themselves in his shoes so they could
understand what life is like.

If you have read Shades of Appley Greenyou may know, or have guessed, that I have some connection with Parkinson’s. I worked in and around Basingstoke and Farnborough as Community Support Worker for the excellent organisation, Parkinson’s UK (then Parkinson’s Disease Society) for a couple of years before retiring in 2008. The title has now changed to Information Support Worker and along with specialist nurses, they do wonderful work nationwide.

Says the society's marketing
officer Clare Allen, ‘Working with people affected, we'll be using Parkinson's
Awareness Week to expose some of the realities of living with Parkinson's and
help the public to better understand the condition.’ She stressed how important
it is to get the word out, especially people who have had first-hand experience
of the condition.

A little while
ago I wrote about ‘Who or What Inspired my Characters’, remembering the days
when I travelled around visiting people in their homes or in residential
care.

‘I met some
extraordinary people endowed with both spirit and stoicism, rising above the
initial shock of diagnosis of a progressive illness, to live life as best they
could. Most touching of all was the mutual support between married couples; a
man and a woman each battling with a different set of problems but somehow able
to get along together and make a good fist of old age. One creative lady,
unable to do very much herself or get out of the house, had the unerring love
of a husband who would spend many hours furnishing and fitting out miniature
houses – like sophisticated dolls’ houses – in a given period, whether Regency,
Victorian or 1950s. Days, weeks, years were spent together working with bits of
wood, fabric and glue and an assortment of tiny household accessories to create
absolute masterpieces. They were wonderful.

Another lady lived alone, in what I
would describe as a shrine to all things Art Nouveau, including some exciting,
theatrical memories. Scarcely able to walk at all, she relied on a rota of
carers and a loving son who came when he could.’

But, sadly, I
also saw situations that were less comfortable, where the wider public did not
evidently understand the symptoms they saw.Someone who shakes, is slow to move or respond, and perhaps shuffles
when they walk may be assumed to be drunk, or have dementia, but of course this
is almost always not the case.

In Shades of
Appley Green there is an elderly, intellectual gentleman trapped inside a body
that would not do as it was told, a victim of both Parkinson’s and arthritis.
He becomes isolated. His children have long since flown the nest; his friends
have mostly died and he ‘rattles around’ in a big house. He was once famous, lived
a rich and interesting life, but who is to know now? Fortunately, he finds a
true friend in Steph, a single mother with problems of her own, who has the wit
to see that, whilst Parkinson’s is not going to go away (albeit controlled by
medication), something can be done to remedy loneliness.

Extract from Shades of Appley Green:

‘With a tea-trolley heading towards them,
Jackson was suddenly asked to step back. It was an abrupt interruption and she
saw how fast anxiety flooded his face, sweeping away the smile he tried so hard
to keep pinned-on from within the static Parkinson’s face. He had been politely
listening to Lilian, with immense concentration, hearing-aid probably full-on,
thinking heaven knows what, then out of the blue he was asked to “please move”.

“Come
along now,” said the lady in charge of the trolley, cheerfully, seeing no sign
of any attempt to get out of her way. “There’s a love. Just a wee bit more room
…”

Steph
put up her hand, as if controlling traffic. “Sorry! Just give us a minute, if
you would, please,” she said. “People with Parkinson’s need time. OK?” Turning
to Jackson, she whispered in his ear, “One, two, left, right, go!” and he
neatly stepped back two short paces. Any onlooker might reasonably question why
he had been so deliberately stubborn and slow to shift himself.

Lilian returned to them, by which time the
trolley had moved on and Jackson appeared to be calmly awaiting the next leg of
the tour.’

Says Steve Ford,
Chief Executive, Parkinson’s UK: ‘Can you imagine your body not doing what you
told it to? To deal with people staring or tutting when you struggle to get out
the right change at a supermarket till? Or how life would be if you were scared
to leave the house for fear of freezing to the spot or losing balance and
tripping over?’

If you have Parkinson’s or know someone who is affected by the condition, then it would be wonderful to hear from you. Leave your story below in a brief Comment or contact Parkinsons UK to help spread awareness of how the general public could perhaps be more empathetic and imagine themselves in the shoes of a person with Parkinson’s, or indeed, with another neurological condition.

I would really
love to hear from you; it may help others. Spread the word please. Retweet and
support.